Carice Van Houten

Carice Anouk van Houten is a Dutch stage and film actress. She won three Golden Calves for her roles in Suzy Q (1999), Undercover Kitty (2001), and Black Book (2006). Her role in Black Book launched her international career. She acted in the films American films Body of Lies (2008), Valkyrie (2008), and Repossession Mambo (2009).

Early lifevan Houten was born on September 5, 1976 in Leiderdorp, the Netherlands. Her mother Margje Stasse is on the board of Dutch educational TV and her father Theodore van Houten is a writer and broadcaster. She has a younger sister, Jelka van Houten, who is also an actress. She went to the St. Bonifatiuscollege (high school) in Utrecht, where she played the leading role in Hugo Claus' Tijl Uilenspieghel, directed by Ad Migchielsen. Van Houten studied at the Kleinkunstacademie in Amsterdam.

Acting careerCarice van Houten played her first leading role in Martin Koolhoven's TV film Suzy Q. Van Houten won a Golden Calf for her part as Suzy. Carice van Houten has also won the Pisuisse Award and the Top Naeff Award for her stage acting and another Golden Calf for her part as the kitten that becomes a girl in Undercover Kitty (2001). The first time she could be seen in cinemas in the USA was when Martin Koolhoven's AmnesiA (2001) got a small theatrical release.

Van Houten won a Golden Calf for her performance as Rachel Stein in the 2006 film Black Book at the Netherlands Film Festival. Black Book's director Paul Verhoeven says about her in a television interview: "Never in my life I have worked with an actress this talented." and when he is asked to compare her with Sharon Stone he says: "Carice can really act". The international press is also enthusiastic about her role in Black Book. Dick Schümer writes in his review of the film in the Frankfurter Allgemeine that Carice van Houten is "not only more beautiful, but also a better actress than Scarlett Johansson".

In December 2006, van Houten withdrew from a theatre production of Alex van Warmerdam due to personal reasons. According to a spokesman of the theatre it was because of a work overload.

Carice's first English spoken movie is Dorothy from French director Agnès Merlet.

Her performance in Black Book led to roles opposite Tom Cruise in Valkyrie, Leonardo DiCaprio and Vince Colosimo in Body of Lies and Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in Repossession Mambo. She has acted in three movies directed by Dutch director Martin Koolhoven.

In 2008 she stars in the non commercial short movie Zingen in het Donker, a drama on domestic violence. In January 2008, van Houten was named Woman of the Year by New York. She appeared in the magazine Vanity Fair in the issue for March 2008, photographed by Wayne Maser.

Personal lifeShe is in a relationship with actor Sebastian Koch, her co-star in Black Book.

Carice has stated that Hollywood makes her unhappy: "I have seen Hollywood, and although I have nothing against it, it's not my kind of life. My agent is shocked that I want to stay in Europe", she says. "If Hollywood offers me a great part, of course I'll take it, but I just don't want to live there."